Many digital filters, for example finite impulse response (FIR) filters with linear response, are characterized by having a bilaterally symmetric coefficient sequence, e.g., a pair of corresponding right side and left side coefficients that are equally distant from the center of the filter have the same value. It is, therefore, beneficial to use the symmetry property of these filters for more efficient filtering. For example, in many hardware implementations of symmetrical filters, pairs of corresponding right-side and left-side data elements (e.g., data elements that are equally distant from the center of the filter) are first added and only then multiplied by the filter coefficient to save multiplexers.